Someone To Believe In
by afullmargin
Summary: Templeton Peck's always needed someone to open the door.


**Rating**: Teen

**Notes**: Written for comment_fic, dedicated to GypsyJr who requested fluff and uh… kinda got a character study instead. *innocent*

**Prompt**: any, any,_ I don't believe in anything but myself / __But then you opened up a door, you opened up a door / __Now I start to believe in something else _("Soldier" Ingrid Michaelson)

**Disclaimer**: This is a work of fictional parody in no way intended to infringe upon the rights of any individual or corporate entity. Any and all characters or celebrity personae belong to their rightful owners. Absolutely no money has or will be gained from this work. Please do not publicly repost or redistribute without letting me know first. Transformative or derivative works welcome, but drop me a note about it!

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Templeton Peck had always been out for himself, even as a kid he learned quickly that nobody was going to just give him anything… not even the time of day. Everyone had an agenda and the best thing he could do was make sure that his was the one on top. He was the one nobody wanted; coasting through boarding school after the foster care system declared him a lost cause for placement until he ended up in the Army where he used everything he had to be the best at everything he could.

The best sniper. The best lover, the best talker – and the best con. It came almost naturally to him, burying himself under layers of lies and half-truths sometimes just because he could. By the time he made Corporal he was already a hair away from being washed out and he'd seen far more than his fair share of dressing downs. When Colonel Smith pulled him from out of all the men on his base, when he was sitting for a court martial for theft of government property no less, he'd been just about ready to throw himself into the game professionally. There was a lot of money to be made in the civilian world even if it was something he'd never really known.

Hannibal opened that first door for him. He molded and shaped him from a stupid kid who happened to possess amazing talents into a barely contained soldier who still got to have fun with only the occasional beat down to remind him of what he could be easily pushed back into. Hannibal Smith gave him something to believe in – his country, the job they did, respect for the uniform and himself. He was the first person that saw through the lies and knew that underneath it all, the pretty Face was looking for someone to tell him there was more to life than money and the comfort it can buy.

It made him the man that realized he could fall in love.

And then, years later, he did. She was everything he ever wanted in a woman, beautiful and intelligent – and almost completely immune to his charms. "How did I let you talk me into this?" She had asked him the first time they made love, sprawled out in a cheap hotel bed wearing nothing but their tags. "You must be crazy in love," he answered.

A year later, he told Charissa Sosa that he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. Dogs, kids, a nice house with a pool and someone to clean it.

She kicked the door closed.

When she left, it was easy to retreat into the man he used to be. Recklessness got the job done; revenge on the enemy tasted sweet and won medals. He became a Ranger by day and anyone he wanted to be by night. A playboy, an innocent quiet type, a pseudo-intellectual that looked like he was dripping money; anything to get a mark in bed for just one night.

He didn't believe in anything anymore outside of himself. He was capable, he was confident… he could do anything he wanted and the team was always there to bail him out of trouble and yeah, maybe the boss railed on him for it but it didn't matter. For two years after she left, he coasted.

It took a madman to wedge open the door again, a quiet and unassuming gesture that anyone would read as close friendship from the outside.

One night, half-drunk in a two-man boat on some beach in a country he couldn't even remember being deployed to, his best friend – if you could call him that, he was the guy he worked closest with when even Hannibal felt like he couldn't control him anymore, sat down on the opposite end and pushed it into the water.

"What ya doing, man?" Face groaned, staring up at the stars as they moved far too fast for his liking.

"We're gonna talk, Temp…" Murdock drawled, dipping the paddles rhythmically until they were well enough out to be truly alone.

"It's late," he smiled to himself, letting his brain wander over the faces that had been at the party he'd excused himself from, wondering which one he'd be bunking with that night.

"You gotta pull your head outta your ass and listen for once."

The remark got his attention and he pushed up with a bleary half-smirk on his face. "What did you just say to me?"

"You gonna keep pulling stunts until the Boss-man kicks you off the team?" Murdock wrinkled his brow under the brim of his hat; "Or are you gonna listen to someone who cares a lot about you?"

"Yeah… what? I'm listening, man. What are you talking about?"

"Maybe you don't see it, and maybe you don't want to. But there's a lot of love right here. For you. And maybe you feel like you need to conquer everyone you can before it kills you, but I want you to know you don't have to."

Still confused, Face shook his head; "Murdock… just… what?"

"I love you." He said simply, pulling up the paddles. "And not the Face that goes out late at night and comes back the next morning smelling like sex and booze." He crossed his arms over his chest; "I know you probably don't care, but we've got a good thing going on here and if you don't wake up and notice it you're gonna end up alone and I know no matter how much you think you already are, you don't want that. You aren't alone in this. I believe in you. And it's about time you sucked it up and started believing again."

That hit home. He didn't say anything else that night, neither of them did, but when the boat touched shore again he knew that Charissa wasn't the only one who had that spark in them – that when he wanted it, there was a team he cared about that saw right through the lies. A team that believed in him.

And a best friend that would become everything he could believe in.


End file.
